The Workers League was a

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The group's origins lay in the

League for a Workers Republic The League for a Workers' Republic (LWR) was a Trotskyist organisation in Ireland. Foundation It was founded in 1968 by members of the Irish Workers' Group, which was mainly centred on Irish emigrants to Britain and was itself the result of ...

, an associate of the

International Committee of the Fourth International The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) is the name of two Trotskyist internationals; one with sections named Socialist Equality Party which publishes the World Socialist Web Site, and another linked to the Workers Revo ...

(ICFI). As that organisation began to split between the supporters of the

Socialist Labour League The Workers Revolutionary Party is a Trotskyist group in Britain once led by Gerry Healy. In the mid-1980s, it split into several smaller groups, one of which retains possession of the name. The Club The WRP grew out of the faction Gerry Healy ...

(SLL) in Britain and those of the

Internationalist Communist Organisation The Internationalist Communist Organisation (french: Organisation Communiste Internationaliste, OCI) was a Trotskyist political party in France. Its successor was the Internationalist Communist Current of the Workers Party. History Origins The gr ...

(OCI) in France. The majority of the League for a Workers Republic sided with the OCI, but a minority broke away in 1970 to form the League for a Workers Vanguard. When the ICFI split in 1972, the League for a Workers Vanguard changed its name to the "Workers League" and became an official affiliate of an ICFI dominated by

Gerry Healy Thomas Gerard Healy (3 December 1913 – 14 December 1989) was a political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International and the leader of the Socialist Labour League and later the Workers Revolutionary Part ...

's Socialist Labour League. The Leagues activities involved general recruitment, the running of classes in Marxism, the selling of, first, ''The Workers' Press'' and, later, ''

News Line ''The News Line'' is a daily newspaper published by a British Trotskyist group, the Workers' Revolutionary Party. History The paper was launched in 1969 as ''Workers Press'' and renamed ''News Line'' in 1976. For a time during the 1980s, the ...

''- both published in England - and attempting interventions in industrial disputes'. In the mid-seventies, the League ran a Right to Work Campaign which involved a number of demonstrations in Dublin, one of which culminated in a 'mass' meeting in the Mansion House. Jack O'Connor, who would later become General President of SIPTU in 2003, and President of ICTU in 2009, was an activist and organiser with the League for much of the 1970s. In the early 1970s, the League's General Secretary was Donal O'Sullivan. For a while, the League published ''Marxist Journal'' a general magazine that dealt with political and theoretical issues, which was edited by the trade union activist, academic and author, Paul McGuirk. The League became moribund sometime around 1978.

References

1970 establishments in Ireland 1978 disestablishments in Ireland All-Ireland political parties Communist parties in Ireland Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland Defunct political parties in the Republic of Ireland International Committee of the Fourth International Political parties disestablished in 1978 Political parties established in 1970 Socialist parties in Ireland Trotskyist organisations in Ireland Trotskyist organisations in Northern Ireland {{Ireland-party-stub